11/24/2015

Tiny Real-Life 'Dragon' Makes A Stunning Rare Appearance

Plenty of strange and fanciful creatures have been invented within the
long tradition of lore and mythology, but few real-life beings have been
so aptly named after one of those from fiction.
Meet the
blue dragon — probably among the most beautiful animals on the planet. And he's a sea slug, no less.

They may be a bit more diminutive than their namesake counterparts are
imagined, measuring in at just over an inch fully grown, but this
species is no less fearsome. Blue dragons (
Glaucus atlanticus) spend their lives floating upside down in warm ocean currents,
attacking their prey with a powerful venom from their wing-like
appendages. Their sting is so deadly, in fact, that they're known to
take down other venomous marine animals, like the Portuguese man-o-war.